So Tami sent me the Top Googled Recipe Searches of 2020. Here they are:

1. Sourdough Bread
2. Whipped Coffee
3. Disney Churro
4. Dole Whip
5. DoubleTree cookie
6. Ikea meatball
7. Chaffle
8. Hamburger Bun
9. Egg Salad Sandwich
10. Healthy Banana Bread

I’m definitely on-trend with number one, which was probably the one I Googled most this year, although it didn’t help much. After weeks and weeks of feeding starter and three bread-making attempts, I only baked one successful loaf! I’d rather fly to San Francisco than try and make sour dough bread again!

Lauren and Emma definitely made their share of whipped coffee, especially at the beginning of the Pandemic, I would hear them whipping it every morning. I didn’t Google Disney’s churro, but did Google and make the Dole Whip served outside the Enchanted Tiki Birds in Adventureland. It was delicious and I gave the recipe on an earlier post.

Didn’t Google DoubleTree cookie, although I have eaten my share of them and they are delicious, especially when eaten warm. The Ikea meatball confused me a bit. I like them and always buy a couple packs when I visit Ikea, but wouldn’t go out of my way to make them from scratch. Aren’t they just a Swedish meatball?

I didn’t know what a Chaffle was, so, of course Googled it. It’s a waffle made of eggs and cheese, eaten on Keto diets. I’ve tried the Keto diet a couple times and I’m lucky there were no homicides in my house during that time. Never again and I have no desire to try a waffle with no flour in it. Give me a Pecan Waffle at Waffle House any day.

I believe if you’re making your own hamburger buns, you have WAY too much time on your hands (which I guess we all did this year). I’ve never attempted this and doubt I ever will. They sell freshly baked ones at Publix, so why? Perhaps people were baking them when they were afraid to go to the grocery store and eating hamburgers at home.

Tami was surprised at Egg Salad Sandwich being on the list.

“Who doesn’t know how to make egg salad?”

she asked.

I’m thinking it must be people who don’t know how to cook. A lot of people who never cooked before, learned how to cook during 2020. Thank God for You Tube videos. Healthy Banana Bread makes sense given all the banana bread being baked and people wanting to be healthy; I actually have a recipe (from a Jane Fonda cookbook) for that but this year, I just made the full fat version. Calories don’t count in a Pandemic, right?

In the same vein, the food delivery service has released its Taste of 2020 and reported the most ordered take-out foods in Miami in 2020. Number one was Alfredo Pasta, which saw a 675 percent increase in popularity in the 305. I have to say, I didn’t order it this year, in fact didn’t order any pasta at all to-go this year. Here are the rest:

Top Take Out Orders in Miami in 2020

1. Pasta Alfredo
2. Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese
3. Pollo Saltado
4. Baked Empanadas
5. Jambalaya

I didn’t order any of these, but am down with Pollo Saltado (Peruvian Stir-fried Chicken), Baked Empanadas and Jambalaya (although I’d probably make my own). Our most ordered-out food was probably pizza, followed by Thai food and sushi. I wish there were a decent Chinese food restaurant in South Miami (I miss you New Chinatown!) but alas, there is not.

Some of my favorite take-out meals this year have been: Ghee Indian, Root and Bone, Farinelli 1937‘s Pizza Kit, Atchana’s Thai and Stir Moon in Miami. In the Keys I’ve enjoyed The Key Thai and Sushi and Num Thai (sense a theme here?). In the Keys dining out is easier than in Miami, as there are so many outdoor dining options, many with live music and less cases of COVID.

I was thinking of the meal I made the most of in 2020 and it was probably pasta, ravioli specifically. I guess that’s why I never ordered it out, because it’s such an easy and fast meal to whip up. I love Rana’s raviolis, as well as Trader Joe’s, which come in a wide variety of flavors- from Cacio di Pepe, to Lemon Ricotta, Lobster and Pumpkin.

• 

• 

Here’s a easy recipe for Ravioli that’s delicious, given to me by Kelley’s friend Ellen Hamlin. It’s in Serve It Up!, the tennis cookbook I helped compile to raise money for University of Miami’s CARD, Autism Center. The other recipes in this article are also from this cookbook as well. Message me if you’d like to buy a copy, available for $15.